The varied peoples of Middle-earth at times found unity in their pursuits, and all too often experienced deep rifts. Engage in lively conversations as we banter about the differences between the Alliances, and recruit for our People as well. Remember, keep it friendly.

Hi there everyone, my name is Manya and welcome to our new home. We were almost two years in our last one so this will take a bit of getting used to. But we have our memories, and that is all that matters... ahem...

This Guild is EVEN GREATER!!! We will celebrate all things good, and dodgy, about our beloved country and unite in Tolkien fanaticism.

Too many big words for this time of night. Now don't all rush the place at once...

Edit: 22/07/2011 Now linking to the actual first Aussie Guild forum. It reeks of nostalgia and teenage dreams Edit: 07/04/2012 Can't believe it's ten years ago that I made that first post. Thanks for the memories all!

Well hello all. The concert was fantastic! It was wonderful to catch up with other TORCers too. Midgardsormen, were you there?? We somehow missed you. I am about to do a search for those links we discussed. I will pop them up if I can find them.

Oh Sh_wulff, so sorry to have missed you. We were only around in City Extra for dinner. So close. Maybe we can get to see you at the LOTR expo at the Powerhouse in December. Sam is keen, as am I to see it. Latheriren has already seen it and said it was great.

Hi lotrgrrl! getting comfy I see!

It was very nice meeting you all on saturday and having dinner, talk and dessert! The concert was definately a highlight for my year. The only thing better with be the ROTK:EE!

Here is the first part of my report. Sorry I didn't post it sooner. second half to follow soon.

Enjoyed the flight flying business, breakfast was a ham and cheese croissant and orange juice. Read the paper and hey presto I was in Sydney. (I used my husbands frequent flyers point of which he has heaps as he goes OS a lot for work). Decided to get the city hotels bus to my hotel, to save on the cab fare. This was pretty good and got to my hotel in half an hour. The hotel was pretty swish but I was expecting it to be a little closer to the harbour and Opera House. Had about two hours before the concert so had a shower, got dressed and then decided to take a leisurely stroll through the botanical gardens on my way to the Opera House. I wanted to arrive early so I could pick up my ticket and scout around for the fountain we were meeting at.

It was quite sunny but with a very cold wind. I managed to work up a bit of a sweat though as I had my big thick coat on. The gardens were beautiful and I was amazed by all the bats and what a racket they make. Arrived at the Opera House and immediately found the car that Lantherien and Ithilias had mentioned. This was good, as I could see no sign of the supposed fountain we were meeting at. I went in and picked up my ticket. Already (about an hour before the start of the performance) there were quite a few people milling around. Many of them were looking about, obviously meeting up with friends. I wondered if these were any fellow TORCers, did they have a particular look about them that marked them as true Tolkien believers rather than just film fans? I did a circuit of the opera house and still didn’t see a fountain.

I was now a tad concerned but as we had all exchanged mobile numbers I knew I could still contact the others if a fountain failed to materialise. I headed down toward the restaurant section near the quay. I thought I’d grab a bite or at least a cup of tea. Trundling up the road I found the fountain, it had been camouflaged as a round-a-bout and only spurted water intermittently. No wonder I had missed it. Out of the sun, the wind was bitter, I made the executive decision not to stand on the fountain as it was rather exposed to the weather and there wasn’t really any room for pedestrians. I took up point duty in a café opposite and ordered a tea. I then texted the other TORCers informing them of my position.

First to show was notlistening. We said hello and then she hurried off to pick up her ticket. Not much later Samaranth and tinewen came up together. They spotted me and we greeted each other. We headed back to the opera house hoping to catch notlistening on our way. It was far too cold to hang out at the fountain and it was 30 minutes to the start of the concert. We had not yet seen midgardsormen but we figured we would get a call. We went inside, lots of people were around now. I looked at these people again with the critical eye of a TORCer, I don’t know what I was looking for but everyone looked normal. I ducked back outside to see if I could find notlistening and spotted her coming back our way. We meet up with the others, got programs and prepared to go in.

We arranged a place to meet at interval and split up as we all had seats in different spots. I was very proud of my spot; B20, which was second row of the circle, bang in the middle. I went and sat down. It wasn’t long before the seats were full and the lights went down. My tummy gave a flutter as the first chords of The Prophecy began. The music swelled, the choir of some one hundred voices filled the space with that familiar haunting melody. At that instant I was so glad I had been able to come. There is nothing like live performance, especially of work that you are intimately familiar.

The first movement comprised of; The Prophecy, Concerning Hobbits, The Shadow of the Past, A Short Cut to Mushrooms, The Old Forest and A Knife in the Dark. The pieces were not exactly as they are on the CD and not everything was performed, but the selection melded well together. The choral, brass and percussion work were fantastic live. The second movement started with the beautiful choral work of Many Meetings. Closing my eyes I could imagine autumn scenes of Rivendell. Opening them again I looked up to see wonderful images projected onto the vaulted ceiling of the Opera House. This really was lovely. The second movement continued with The Ring Goes South, A Journey in the Dark and The Bridge of Khazad-dûm. This left me in tears, as usual. One of my favourite scenes in the movie is at the end of this sequence where the Fellowship are paralysed by their despair over the fall of Gandalf. David Bruce, the treble soloist and the children’s choir did brilliantly. We then moved into Lothlórien, Gandalf’s Lament, Farewell to Lórien, The Great River and finishing with The Breaking of the Fellowship. The last finished with David Bruce and In Dreams. This was beautiful and very well performed. David’s pitch was excellent and although he struggled slightly with the phrasing, this did not detract from the overall impact. The audience erupted into applause and the first half was over. I sat for a while to let the eager beavers out and then when to find the others.

Cel, thanks for the links to the pics! I haven't had mine done as yet. Still have 1/2 a film to use up (will do so skiing in 2 weeks) Digital has advantges. I'm sure you'll do a better job than I describing the 2nd half of the concert.

PG, it was wonderful! Sorry you couldn't be there as well. Friends of mine went to the later concert and were just as amazed as I was!

Thanks for your report of the Howard Shore concert, celebalqua – and the great photos. I’m looking forward to Part 2 as well.

I’m sorry it’s taken me so long to visit and let you know how nice it was to meet up with Lantherien, Ithilias, Tinewen, notlistening and yourself!

sh_wulff, I’m sorry we missed seeing you too – you must have frozen there by the fountain. After weeks and weeks and weeks of warm weather it had to choose that day to turn Arctic. The winds were very strong, and very, very (very+) cold, and I know it was a great relief to dive into the still-quite-70s interior of the Concert Hall.

I’ll echo celebalqua’s and notlistening’s comments – the concert was wonderful. It’s something I’ll remember for the rest of my life. There is a special magic in hearing the music you know so well performed live, and particularly when it’s conducted by the composer himself, and conducted with such energy and obvious enjoyment.
The sheer volume of the music – you could feel the blast of the sound waves as the brass section (who were enjoying themselves entirely too much) and the drums went for broke. The boy soprano was clearly nervous (and who wouldn’t be) but rather than taking away from the performance the slight catches for breath it just made it all the more heartbreaking. The lady soprano had a very interesting dress sense, I thought, and was very good for the most part, although…different…to Annie Lennox for Into the West.

After the concert, once we’d located Lantherien and Ithilias we adjourned to a restaurant overlooking Circular Quay, with a view out to the Harbour Bridge, where we had dinner, (and drank much coffee), and talked away the next 5 hours.

If you’re wondering about the picture of Howard Shore, this was taken at a signing session at Borders bookshop in Pitt Street Mall the day before the concert. I went, I queued, and I had my copy of the Fellowship of the Ring signed by him. He seemed a little overwhelmed by the fact that the queue of interested persons stretched all the way down Pitt Street down and round into King Street, but he very patiently spoke to each person and signed away.

It would be great to meet up again when the exhibition is here – in December, I think that is.

Oh, and thanks for the link to the mollyringwraith site, cel – what a hoot!

Just found out there is another conference here in September. Gimli, Denethor, Proudfoot and Legolas's stunt double will be there. I am booked on a Women's convention for church. Maybe I could sneak away...

I have been away from Torc for a long time. I got so busy after my trip to Aussie, well, I went missing for a while.

I was always convinced that Australia was a great place. I finally got to go there, meet and befriend many Aussies (whom I am in constant contact with) and...well...I was right! It is a wonderful place!

Godzone, mate, S'trewth!

If I could, I would go back every year. I am even trying to see if I can install a bullnose veranda on my house. Yep, and in my little horse country town, where everyone wears cowboy hats, I wear an Akubra.

Now that I have spent some time in Victoria and NSW, I was wondering where you all come from.

So far, I have spent time in the Byronshire area, Melbourne, and Sydney.

Hi all! Sorry to have neglected the Aussie thread for a while (am slowly dropping off the edge of the net world, I fear. RL keeps encroaching). Is late, am tired but feel I should try and do net now rather than in the morning. Don't know why. Think it's something to do with taking my time over breakfast, but my logic at this time is not the most reliable.

Hi Skippy! Sorry, don't know much about airfares to here.

nl - thanks for emailing the Shore-based moot pic! Thanks for the convention info! Sounds pretty good! (except for Denethor *shudder*) Good price too. Still don't think my budget can handle it, though. Am pretty low on cash supplies at the moment (just finished paying off tickets for the November BOBW convention in Canberra - also a good line-up, and am especially looking forward to a stunt workshop with Brett Beattie!)

hey lotrgrrl! glad to hear you can make it to BOBW in Nov. I can't justify another LOTR convention so you will have to be the source of all knowledge there. I know Syl would like a Craig photo but the cost of a signed photo v the cost of staying in Canberra and the convention is a bit much. Oh well, maybe when they hold one in Sydney again I can oblige.

Lord Of The Rings Free DVD Draw! Sunday 22 August How would you like to spend a day of life and death adventure in Middle Earth without the danger? Lord of the Rings groupies and film buffs - and those of you who haven't seen this Academy Award-Winning series on the big screen - can experience this action-packed roller coaster ride in one almost continuous screening in the darkened comfort of the DRPAC auditorium.

One lucky viewer will receive the prize of all three DVDs to take home and do it all over again and again... Each movie you attend gets you one ticket in the free DVD draw.

Well I guess it all boils down to this: I have been a bad bad TORCer. Very bad. How long is it since I was last in here? Nevermind, it was a long time wasn't it... and the title of the thread is embarrasingly out of date and all... what can I say, Uni classes call.

Your accounts of the Concert have only served to make me even more jealous I will get back at you by reminding everyone that I went to Japan last month.
Now I think we're on even footing I hope everyone is enjoying whatever it is you all do in your non-TORCing time.

Really, the concert sounded great and I am glad you all enjoyed it so much (looking forward to the part two account )

What's the next great Tolkien-related event we have to look forward to? I believe Sean Astin and a couple of others are coming to some Scifi convention that is here in Brisbane sometime in the near future, but other than that I haven't heard a word... maybe they should release that fourth movie Dominic Monaghan mentioned at the MTV movie awards, then it will be just like old times

wulfy, there's going to be a LOTR exhibition at the Powerhouse later in the year Dec I believe. Wanna go together, so we can moot as well? I'm sure Sam and Lotrgrrl will be in on that too.

Coming soon
Late December 2004 - 31 March 2005

The Lord of the Rings Motion Picture Trilogy – The Exhibition

Experience the blockbuster exhibition that takes you behind the scenes of the film trilogy. The Powerhouse is the only Australian venue for this exhibition which has attracted record-breaking crowds on its international tour. Don’t miss your chance to be transported to Middle-earth and see props, costumes and artefacts from the films. Discover the secrets behind the trilogy’s awardwinning special effects and experience an immersive encounter with The One Ring.

Don't know what happened at the Concert..........I could not find anyone, and noone found me even though I was wearing my t-shirt with MIDGARDSORMEN written in large letters on the front

However, I was together with a fellow RBer, so I was not totally alone!

The concert was sooo gooood but it seems like ages ago now!

Then I could not find this thread...............I DID look, but it seemed to have disappeared!!

Awfully busy this term........but I am trying to take one day at a time!

Did not have time to watch as much Olympics as I would have liked but I did get to see a bit of the swimming and bits and pieces of other things such as some diving, some rowing etc.

Anyone planning to go to the Best of Both World Convention in Canberra in November?
I will have to check if there are still places vacant, but I would not mind having a weekend away and the BOBW gettogethers are always lots of fun.

Oh, well, guess I should get some work done! Just wanted to let you guys know that I am around, and will be by regularly now that I have found this thread again.